Kukje Gallery is pleased to announce its participation in Frieze Seoul 2023 (hereafter Frieze Seoul) and Kiaf SEOUL 2023 (hereafter Kiaf) from September 6 through 10, 2023. This year, Frieze, one of the world’s biggest and most respected art fairs—having made its debut in Seoul in 2022—will continue its partnership with Kiaf, the Korean international art fair and Asia's oldest continuously running fair. Together, these two exceptional organizations will present a diverse array of cultural programming and events, accompanied by a world-class selection of art. The presence of both fairs in the South Korean capital is anticipated to revitalize the city with a vigor for arts and culture. 

Frieze Seoul 2023

The second edition of Frieze Seoul will welcome more than 120 galleries from 30 countries—a considerable increase from last year—eager to establish networks and celebrate art with the many collectors, art-enthusiasts, and arts professionals flocking to Seoul, one of the world’s most dynamic cities which has been dubbed as a “hub” for the Asian art market in recent years. 

The Frieze franchise, initiated with the birth of Frieze London in 2003, has since expanded its global presence by hosting a series of eponymous fairs in major cities around the world; this includes Frieze Masters and Frieze New York (since 2012), Frieze Los Angeles (since 2019), and Frieze Seoul (since 2022). Most recently Frieze announced its acquisition of The Armory Show in New York and EXPO CHICAGO, a decision that speaks to the brand’s commitment to furthering its growth in the international art market. 

This year’s Seoul edition will feature three sections: Main, devoted to galleries showcasing contemporary art; Masters, led by Frieze Masters Director Nathan Clements-Gillespie and including works spanning collectible objects to Old Masters to the late 20th century; and Focus Asia, curated by Hyejung Jang (Curator of Doosan Art Center and independent curator) and Joselina Cruz (Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), Manila and independent curator), focused on ten solo presentations of artists from Asian galleries. 

Patrick Lee, who is in his second year as the Director of Frieze Seoul, has highlighted the importance of the fair saying, “Frieze Seoul 2023 features a line-up of exceptional galleries from across the globe, with a special focus on Asia-based exhibitors showcasing the best art from the region. In addition, we are excited to expand the fair’s dynamic program of special projects embodying the spirit of collaboration, creating a moment for cross-cultural connections between artists, collectors, curators and art enthusiasts from around the world.” Meanwhile, numerous arts and culture events in celebration of Frieze Week will be held throughout the first week of September across different districts in Seoul, including the Samcheong, Hannam and Gangnam areas.

Kukje Gallery will introduce a curated selection of works by renowned international and Korean modern and contemporary artists. Park Seo-Bo, the father of Dansaekhwa presents Écriture (描法) No. 080616 (2008), belonging to his iconic series of the same title. Painted in warm yellow hues, the large-scale work evokes the landscape of blooming forsythias in spring. From the 2000s, Park expanded his Écriture series to include different subtle hues that reference nature, naming these after beloved elements in the environment such as persimmon, cherry blossom, golden olive, and air. In 2022, the artist was the subject of the comprehensive monograph Park Seo-Bo: Écriture, published by leading international art publisher Rizzoli. In addition, Ha Chong-Hyun’s Conjunction 95-011 (1995) will be on view—an earlier work from his iconic Conjunction series that employs the technique of bae-ap-bub (a singular method of pushing oil paint from the back to the front of the burlap canvas). Acclaimed as one of the most visionary progenitors of Korean contemporary art history, Ha spearheaded the Korean avant-garde movement and remains a core member of Dansaekhwa. Last year, the artist was the subject of a major solo exhibition in Venice, a Collateral Event of the Biennale Arte 2022, and more recently reinforced his role in the Korean avant-garde by presenting his early Urban Planning works as part of Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s, held at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea. 

Also on view will be Untitled (1968), a drawing by Wook-kyung Choi, completed during her time studying abroad in the U.S. A pioneering abstract expressionist painter, Choi’s independent spirit and bold experimentation charted new paths in modern and contemporary Korean art history. Opening on August 25, just days before the commencement of Frieze Seoul, Kukje Gallery will be opening Choi’s first-ever solo exhibition in Busan, titled A Stranger to Strangers, focusing on her black-and-white drawings. The booth will also present Nucleus 89-40 (1989) by Lee Seung Jio, a unique and innovative artist celebrated for fostering geometric abstraction in Korea. The painting contains familiar elements from his Nucleus series, including his depiction of mechanical pipe-like forms painted with contrasting metallic colors and compositions. Lee is scheduled to participate in a two-person exhibition with the Italian avant-garde master Agostino Bonalumi at Mazzoleni London, from October 11 to November 30, 2023. Visitors will also be able to experience Korea’s leading modernist Kim Yong-Ik’s This is not the answer #18-26 (2018), featuring Kim’s signature “polka-dots,” which have functioned as symbols for reflection and contemplation for the artist since the 1990s.  

Frieze Seoul will also serve as an opportunity to spotlight major Korean contemporary artists who continue to exhibit extensively around the globe. Among them is Lee Kwang-Ho, who is the subject of a long-awaited upcoming exhibition at Kukje Gallery’s Seoul space. Titled Untitled 6917 (2023), Lee’s new painting presents detailed depictions of a pond, reeds, and grass, rendered with meticulous brushstrokes. Kukje Gallery’s booth will also show the Berlin- and Seoul-based contemporary artist Haegue Yang’s Terraced Torch Lily Vertical Garden (2023), displaying the use of venetian blinds—an industrial yet domestic material that has become a signature of the artist. Here, the blinds appear in colors of orange, red, and green, alluding to certain living organisms such as climbing plants, which creep up a surface to grow and develop. Yang is currently participating in a number of solo and group exhibitions across major institutions around the world, including S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; and the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Here and Elsewhere – Seile (2016), a photographic collage and sound piece created by the moving image and installation artist Yeondoo Jung—chosen for this year’s MMCA Hyundai Motor Series 2023—will also greet visitors at the booth. Jung’s works are known for surrealistic landscapes where the real and the virtual seem to intersect and where he utilizes cinematic framing to invest his work with a palpable tension disguised by serene colors. His works can be found in the collections of major international institutions, including the Leeum Museum of Art, MMCA, Gyeonggi Museum of Art, the Essl Museum, and the Calder Foundation. Meanwhile, visitors can also enjoy Suki Seokyeong Kang’s new work, titled Mountain #23-07 (2022-2023); created with a combination of materials such as steel, brass, leather scraps, silk, and thread, these eclectic materials are integrated to create a wall work that evokes an oriental landscape of a mountain. Kang will hold a major solo exhibition opening at the Leeum Museum of Art in early September to coincide with Frieze Seoul. 

Kukje Gallery will also feature major international artists from its roster. The Mumbai-born, London-based artist Anish Kapoor will be showcasing Green and Brandy (2021), from his iconic series of concave mirrors. Kapoor will be the subject of a solo exhibition opening at Kukje Gallery in time for Frieze Seoul, where he will present recent paintings and sculptures that challenge the material and conceptual boundaries of art by incorporating materials such as silicone, fibreglass, gauze, and gouache. Another section of the booth will display Jean-Michel Othoniel’s Collier Rose, Cristal et Vert-Aquamarine (2023), a new work belonging to the artist’s representative Necklace series that was first inspired in 1997, when Othoniel created Le Collier Cicatrice in memory of Felix Gonzales-Torres. Othoniel’s glass works portray a paradoxical sense of beauty, using the fragility of glass to deliver a message of hope and healing.